The present invention relates generally, as is indicated, to miniature circuit cards and, more particularly, to miniature circuit cards having a retractable cord assembly. Additionally, the invention relates to PCMCIA cards or the like having a retractable cord assembly mounted thereon and/or at least partly therein. Further, the invention relates to a foldable connectors and, more particularly, to foldable connector assemblies for use with miniature circuit cards and the like.
In current computer technology a computer usually has electronic circuitry, memory, one or more processors, such as microprocessors, and long term storage medium, such as those known as a hard drive or some other type device. The computer is able to interface with a keyboard, a mouse, a track ball, a light stylus, etc., to receive input. The computer also may be interconnected with one or more other devices, such as peripheral equipment, other computers, telephone lines, etc. to receive and/or to output information, data, etc., as is well known. Usually a computer has a display on which information, data, images, etc. can be viewed by an observer, such as a person using the computer.
Historically various circuit cards have been connected in computers to add capabilities and/or to enhance capabilities. Exemplary circuit cards include video drivers, ports, memory, and others, as are well known. Many modern computers now also include a circuit card which has a modem capability and may also have a facsimile machine capability, such as those which are send only and those which are send and receive. One or more telephone connectors usually are mounted on such modem circuit cards and faxmodem circuit cards. An exemplary type connector is referred to as an RJ-11 connector or jack. Such RJ-11 jack usually is a female type, although the gender thereof is not critical.
To connect the faxmodem to a telephone system, such as that which terminates at a female RJ-11 jack wall connector or the like, a separate telephone cable is required. Such separate telephone cable usually includes a male RJ-11 connector at each end. The respective RJ-11 connectors can be plugged into their respective female RJ-11 jacks at the wall and at the faxmodem card. Unfortunately, sometimes a computer user may not have available a separate telephone cord to connect the faxmodem of the computer to a telephone system wall jack, for example. This problem is exacerbated when the computer is a portable type such as a laptop computer or a notebook computer; sometimes the telephone cord simply is left behind, forgotten, lost, and so on. Without such separate telephone cord, the faxmodem could not be used. Accordingly, it would be desirable to avoid such loss and/or to eliminate the need for such a separate telephone cord or other connector between a faxmodem card of a computer, especially a portable computer, and a telephone system.
In the past the faxmodem circuits of a computer have been able to receive incoming data, such as signals representing an incoming facsimile transmission, digital data other than facsimile format, and telephone messages, such as audio or voice type messages. The foregoing collectively may be referred to hereinafter as data, regardless of the type of data or information. Such data often is able to be stored for relatively long term storage in the hard drive or other storage medium of the computer and later can be read out, played out, transmitted out, etc. For example, a received facsimile message can be displayed on the computer monitor or printed. Digital data received can be displayed on the monitor, used to operate the computer, printed out, such as a word processed document, etc. Incoming voice messages can be digitized and stored for a subsequent playback through an appropriate amplifier and speaker system. For such purpose, a speaker jack or telephone jack which may have associated therewith amplifier equipment can be used to produce audio signals to be heard by the computer user. Usually, such audio function requires a separate amplifier system independent of the computer to receive signals from the computer and to amplify those signals to be played back by a speaker, headset, etc.
A fairly recent development in circuit card technology for use with computers, especially portable computers, and more especially relatively small size portable computers, such as laptop computers, notebook computers, personal digital assistant, etc., has been the miniature circuit card referred to as PCMCIA. The relatively small computers often do not have adequate space to include a faxmodem, for example. However, the faxmodem function and/or other functions can be provided by connecting a PCMCIA circuit card, other similar miniature circuit card, or the like, to the computer. Such PCMCIA cards usually have connectors thereon for plugging into or otherwise connecting to a PCMCIA connector slot that is built as part of the computer. When it is desired to provide the computer with faxmodem capability, a PCMCIA card having a faxmodem thereon can be plugged into such connector slot. Such a faxmodem PCMCIA card would have appropriate electronic components thereon for providing the faxmodem function in association with the power and control functions supplied by the interconnection with the computer. A separate telephone jack, such as an RJ-11 jack, may be attached to a portion of the PCMCIA card or may be built into the computer itself. A separate telephone cord is required to connect such jack to a telephone system or to some other piece of equipment to which the faxmodem is intended to be connected.
Conventional PCMCIA cards are miniature circuit cards which usually include a support, such as a printed circuit board, a multiple terminal connector at one edge of the printed circuit board, and a housing for enclosing at least part of the circuit board and electronic components (or other components) which are mounted thereon. The housing provides various protective functions, as is well known. The PCMCIA card connector is exposed at an end of the housing to provide the desired connection directly to the PCMCIA slot of the computer or such other device to which the PCMCIA card is to be connected. Sometimes space within the housing or cover of the PCMCIA card is expanded by using a stepped or non-planar housing shape.
Most electrical connectors are too large to fit inside a PCMCIA card. However, it would be desirable to store a connector at least partly inside such a card or the like to provide protection for the connector and to reduce the space requirements for the card.
According to the invention a telephone type or other type of connection is made from a circuit card, such as a miniature circuit card, without the need for a separate cable connector. The circuit card may, for instance, be installed within a housing of a portable lap top computer or other electronic device to provide the electronic device with the ability to communicate over telephone lines and/or local area networks. The circuit card includes a retractable cord assembly having a foldable RJ-type male connector coupled to an end of a retractable cord. The connector includes a main body portion and a supplemental body portion pivotally and releasably attached to one another. The main body portion includes an electrical terminal for making an electrical connection with a female receiving jack such as, for example, a telephone jack, a LAN jack, etc. The supplemental body portion includes a locking member which allows the connector to lock into the female receiving jack when the main body portion and the supplemental body portion are rotated to a closed position with respect to one another. During storage of the connector, the main body portion and the supplemental body portion may be rotated to an open position such that at least a portion of the connector may, for example, be retracted into the housing of a portable computer. In this manner the connector may be protected from damage during storage.
The supplemental body portion may be detached from the main body portion and reattached or replaced if necessary. Thus, if the supplemental body portion is damaged, a user does not need to replace the entire circuit card but rather just the supplemental body portion thereby saving cost.
According to one aspect of the invention a foldable electrical connector includes a connector body including a main body and a supplemental body, an electrical terminal mounted with respect to said main body for making an electrical connection, and a locking member for holding the connector in an electrical device for making electrical connection, and a means for releasably attaching the main body to the supplemental body.
According to one more limited aspect of the invention, the means for releasably attaching includes a spring loaded hinge having a retractable pin coupled to either the main body or supplemental body and a means for receiving the retractable pin disposed in the other one of the main body or the supplemental body.
According to another more limited aspect of the present invention, the main body is pivotal with respect to the supplemental body when the main body and the supplemental body are attached.
According to still another aspect of the invention, an RJ-type connector is provided. The RJ-type connector includes a connector body including a main body and a supplemental body, an electrical terminal mounted to the main body for making an electrical connection, and a locking member for holding the connector in an electrical device for making electrical connection. The supplemental body is detachable with respect to the main body.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, a method of interfacing a foldable RJ-type male telephone plug connector with a female connector, the telephone plug connector including a main body and a supplemental body releasably and pivotably secured to the main body, and the supplemental body including a locking member for locking inside of the female connector. The method including the steps of attaching the main body to the supplemental body, pivoting the supplemental body into a closed position with respect to the main body, and inserting the main body and the supplemental body into the female connector until the locking member locks inside the female connector.
According to a more limited aspect of the present invention, the method of interfacing the foldable RJ-type male telephone plug connector into the female connector further includes the steps of unlocking the locking member from the female connector, removing the main body and the supplemental body from the female connector, and detaching the supplemental body from the main body.
Examples of other uses of the retractable cord assembly of the invention include for various network type devices and networking cards and modems, such as those known as Ethernet, token ring, LAN, and others which currently exist and may exist in the future. Further, the invention is useful to provide retractable cord functions for modems, faxmodems, and the like, whether built into a computer, provided on a separate circuit card connected inside a computer case, as part of a PCMCIA card attachable to a computer, and free or stand alone modems, faxmodems, and the like. The retractable cord assembly also may be used both in portable computers and in nonportable computers. The retractable cord assembly may be used in conjunction with other types of devices used in the electronics field, such as microphones which are intended to be effectively built into a computer or other device, permitting such microphone to be withdrawn from the computer case and subsequently easily stored back in or at the case.
The foregoing and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent as the following description proceeds. It will be appreciated that while a preferred embodiment of the invention is described herein, the scope of the invention is to be determined by the claims and equivalents thereof.
To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the invention, then, comprises the features hereinafter fully described in the specification and particularly pointed out in the claims, the following description and the annexed drawings setting forth in detail certain illustrative embodiments of the invention, these being indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of the invention may be suitably employed.